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Baghdad Is Calm After Days of Sectarian Violence

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Feb. 27 Â Iraqis returned cautiously to the streets and to their jobs today after three days of government-imposed curfew, in a capital still reeling from the worst outbreak of sectarian violence since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Although traffic in the capital quickly returned to its usual gridlock, the mood was apprehensive, with a number of military and police checkpoints remaining in the streets or near mosques. Some sectarian violence continued, with a bomb exploding outside a Sunni mosque in eastern Baghdad killing four worshippers and injuring 18, Interior Ministry officials said.

Earlier in the day, the Iraqi Army dispatched two tanks to guard a prominent Sunni mosque in northern Baghdad after mortars struck a house in a nearby neighborhood at midday, killing four civilians and injuring 17, Iraqi officials said. South of the capital in Mahmudiya, nine bodies were found blindfolded and shot in the head, police officials said. Another four bodies were found to the north, in Baquba.

Security forces remained on high alert elsewhere in the country, with reinforced police patrols standing guard outside mosques in the northern city of Kirkuk.

Government officials continued to meet in efforts to prevent further outbreaks of violence, although talks on forming a new government have yet to resume. A new joint advisory council created over the weekend to coordinate responses to the violence is scheduled to meet again on Thursday, said Adnan Pachachi, a member of Parliament who is serving on the committee.

The wave of violence broke out last Wednesday after an explosion shattered one of Iraq's most sacred Shiite shrines, the golden-domed Askariya Shrine in Samarra. By today, however, the attacks appeared to have ebbed. Almost all the Sunni mosques that were occupied by Shiite militia fighters during the crisis have been returned, said Alaa Makki, a member of the main Sunni Arab political bloc in the new Iraqi Parliament.

Some members of the Mahdi Army, the militia controlled by the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr that was responsible for much of the violence last week, could still be seen around mosques in Baghdad today, although it was not clear whether they were occupying them or guarding them.

In some cases, those carrying out the attacks appear to have been rogue elements of the Mahdi Army or even members of other Shiite groups posing as Mahdi members, Mr. Makki said.

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"These groups could be disobeying Sadr, or they are members of other groups," Mr. Makki said, adding that his political party has met with Mahdi Army leaders in recent days.

Most of the attacks on Sunni mosques took place on the fringes of Sadr City, a vast Shiite slum that is known for criminality. To some Baghdad residents, the mosque attacks of the past week were as much about general lawlessness and the government's lack of control as about sectarianism.

Many Baghdadis seemed still in shock today and fearful about the possibility of more violence.

"Everything is normal again, but we feel there is a problem," said the owner of a tea shop in the busy commercial district known as Karrada, who gave his name only as Laith, out of fear for his safety. "We don't know whether Shia or Sunni will attack us now."

Like many others, Laith described spending four terrifying days inside his home, hearing rumors of the street violence outside as his supplies of food and fuel ran out.

Many people seemed unwilling to acknowledge the reality of what happened.

"People from other countries are responsible, not the Mahdi Army, not the government," said Haithm Khadum, 39, the owner of an electrical supply shop nearby. "No Muslim would do this."